Junior College Top 50 Teams

The
2012 junior-college regular season is entering the stretch run, and
not surprisingly several teams with championship credentials from the
recent past are in contention to become the No. 1 team in the
country.California’s
Orange Coast College (24-3), the 2009 state champion, retains the top
spot in Perfect Game’s ranking of the Top 50 teams for the second
straight period, but the Pirates have plenty of competition. Among
those teams continuing to put steady pressure on Orange Coast are No.
2 Iowa Western (30-1), the 2010 Junior College World Series champion;
No. 3 Walters State of Tennessee (34-5), the 2006 Junior College
World Series champ; and No. 4 Howard of Texas (27-7), the 2009 Junior
College World Series winner.All
four teams opened the 2012 season ranked in the top 10 by Perfect
Game, and have held fast though only Howard and Orange Coast, the
twin 2009 champions, have occupied the No. 1 spot to date. Howard
opened the campaign at No. 1, but has been derailed much of the
season by injuries to its pitching staff.The
quartet of top teams has surged to the top of the national rankings
largely on the basis of dominating performances by NCAA Division I
transfers.Orange
Coast has surfaced at No. 1 by posting a 2.02 team ERA, mainly on the
strength of superior efforts turned in by sophomore righthander
Keegan Yuhl (8-0, 1.75), a UC Irvine transfer, and Brandon Brennan
(6-1, 1.57), an Oregon transfer. Outfielders Chris Carlson
(.441-5-37) and Bijan Rademacher (.318-5-33) have provided plenty of
offense as they share the team lead in homers and are 1-2 in RBIs.
Carlson is another UC Irvine transfer, while Rademacher began his
college career at Cal State Fullerton.Brennan,
whose fastball has been consistently in the 94-95 mph range this
spring, is considered the top prospect on the Pirates roster for
purposes of the 2012 draft, but several of his teammates could be
selected.Howard
may have more draft picks in June than any junior-college team in the
country, and has also leaned heavily on its D-I transfers. The Hawks
have gotten a particularly big effort from their twin aces: former
Texas righthander Clayton Crum (6-1, 1.50) and ex-Nebraska lefthander
Logan Ehlers (7-0, 0.94). Both have been clocked in the mid-90s for
the Hawks this spring.Iowa
Western and Walters State have also largely been powered to date by
their own Division I transfers, both of whom have had breakout
seasons with an opportunity to play on an everyday basis.Tanner
Krietemeier, a Nebraska transfer, has been dominant on both sides of
the ball for Iowa Western, which is hitting .442 as a team. Not only
has the sophomore switch-hitter swung the bat at a stealth .457-5-30
clip for the Reivers and led the team in stolen bases, but he has
been even more dominant on the mound in posting a 5-0, 0.67 record
with six walks and 43 strikeouts in 27 innings as the team’s No. 1
starter. He played sparingly for the Cornhuskers a year ago, but has
emerged this spring as a legitimate two-way prospect for the draft.Marcus
Davis, meanwhile, transferred to Walters State from Louisiana State
prior to his freshman year and has played a major role for Senators
in his second season. He is hitting .482-9-44 with 20 doubles and 10
stolen bases, and has positioned himself as one of the top
position-player prospects for the draft from the junior-college
ranks.Numerous
other significant four-year transfers populate the JC ranks
nationally, but few teams are getting as much mileage from their
contingent as the four clubs currently sitting atop the national
rankings.